Fuel level senders for automotive vehicles conventionally include a float carried on the end of a long pivoting arm suspended within the interior of the fuel tank. The arm is connected to a wiper assembly having a contact slidably engaging a wire wound rheostat that varies in resistance in accordance with the position of the float and therefore the position of the wiper ont he rheostat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,434,425 issued Jan. 13, 1948 in the name of Muller discloses an apparatus for gauging the level of liquids which uses a floating body that reacts to change in the level of the liquid. This in turn changes the position of a roller across a rheostat. This roller is disk shaped and pivots around a pivot point providing movement across the rheostat.
It is also desirable to allow change in directional orientation of the float in various fuel tank configurations. U.S. Pat. No. 3,200,646 issued Aug. 17, 1965 in the name of Donko et al discloses a liquid level indicating device which uses the float attached to a float arm to create changes in the resistance of a rheostat corresponding to the changes in the liquid level. The assembly includes a cover plate and a support bar attached thereto. The float arm and rheostat assembly are attached to this bar by means of a clamp. The clamp contains a round sleeve which enables it to fit over the round support bar and be tightened into place by a nut means. The bracket can be placed at any height and rotated at any analog angle along the support bar.